Olivia Casta Returns Amid AI Bot Controversy, Leafs Fans Fighting In The Streets & A Spectacular Pool You'll Want In Your Yard
Anheuser-Busch/InBev now says 'It was just one post!'
This Bud Light thing isn't going away, as we found out on Tuesday's earnings call from AB/InBev.
• Jim M. writes:
I'm sure you saw this, but I am not sure so I thought I would pass it along. From the Daily Wire. It's like they just can't wait to pour more gasoline on this. If the boycotters want to, they can pretty much torpedo everything directly Bud and get this idiot fired.
Don't they have anyone who understands how to deal with a self-inflicted PR mistake? Or are all their Ivy League contacts all legacy grads?
Anheuser-Busch CEO Michel Doukeris told investors, "We need to clarify the facts that this was one can, one influencer, one post and not a campaign."
And as Michael is finding out, people are fed up with being beaten over the head by the wokes and now his brand is paying the price. Mike, this was bound to happen. It just happens that you had the woke brand executive who made a decision and now you have to put out the fire.
Yes, this was one post, one influencer and one moment in time.
People across the middle of this country are fed up with Mulvaney and the pendulum finally swung and it's painful to brands that pushed the envelope to the breaking point.
Lesson learned, Mike. Next time, read the room.
• Duncan N. writes:
My kids decided it’s warm enough to hit the neighborhood pool. The summer of Yuengling has started!
Kinsey:
Lesson learned, Mike. Your lib lib executives decided to test the will of the people and now you're scrambling. Now Dick Yuengling is going to buy a new yacht or blow money on whatever makes him happy these days.
• Shawn M. in Canby, Oregon writes:
That video of Tim the Lawmower Man was amazing!
He definitely is deserving of a sticker.
Also, Aaron H. suggestion of the 12-pack of Miller Lite tall-boys is spot on.
I've been rocking those for about a year now and they're usually cheaper than the 12 oz competitors.
On a side note, whoever distributes Miller in this area sucks and A-B completely dominates the shelf space. Now, what little Miller we had is entirely out, Coors is nearly empty, but good old A-B is packed to the gills. Nope.
Sadly, I've been unable to find Yuengling here in crazy town.
• Brandon C. in Pinckney, MI writes:
And now I see that AB is trying "it wasn't my fault, it was someone who doesn't even work for us that approved a small thing and you're blowing it out of proportion" excuse.
Sorry, boss. *You* hire the advertising agency. *You* set the ground rules for engagement. And your marketing person is on video talking about this being part of the effort to take Bud Light away from its "fratty" image. AB lost control of this when they refused to issue a not-obviously-written-by-lawyers straightforward apology with real consequences attached to it. Instead, they tried to softshoe around the issue. The problem isn't that you *may* have offended people. The problem is a large portion of this country, including an overwhelming portion of your existing customer base, does not like the transgender movement and what it stands for on a fundamental level.
This is problem with the woke mentality in general-- in order to appease a very small portion of the population with way out-of-center views, you try to force abnormal (and in some cases immoral) behavior to be considered normal. And people have seen the 20 years of slippery slopes on cultural issues now coming to a head in their local communities and families. This isn't a theoretical argument being made in some 10-person classroom in an Ivy League liberal arts department or law school elective class. It's now affecting people on a day-to-day level in their schools, churches, and businesses.
Kinsey:
Hey Mike, I hope you're reading what the people of this country have to say.
You could've hired Screencaps to market your beer and you would've been enjoying an amazing summer. Now you're balls-deep in a controversy. It must suck.
BTW, this is a lesson on how to lean into the Bud Light controversy while working TNML into the content from Canoe Kirk. Simply amazing.
Silvia Funes, Paige VanZant, AI and allowing bots to plan your vacations
• Joe H. writes:
You've set a new high bar on Screencaps . First, the Silvia Funes bonus re-fogged my eyeballs. Then, the Paige VanZant/Airwrecka oil wrestling photos did such a good job of unfogging them that I no longer need cataract surgery. Are you a Medicare Advantage provider? I'd like to see that you are properly compensated. Thank you.
Re: AI...you have nothing to worry about. I asked Chat GPT to plan an inexpensive seven-day round trip vacation by automobile for me from central Ohio to New Orleans and back. It estimated that it would take me ten hours to drive from central Ohio to Nashville (it takes six, even if you're pokey) then directed me to Memphis (as if) where I would spend the night, before driving to NOLA the next day. That's a large zig and zag.
I think it's going to get worse, not better. There is an opportunity here for businesses to run product placement advertisements disguised as suggestions to nudge users. I'd rather take recommendations from someone (or something) who doesn't have skin in the game. Like yourself.
Thanks again for brightening my day. And afternoon. And evening, And...
It's official....#savethedate
Sorry for the late notice on a date. I have a tight schedule this summer and so does my tournament co-director, Anthony Bellino, who works for the University of Michigan, the Detroit Lions, Michigan Sports Radio Network, BCSN, the Toledo Walleye, his mom's grocery store as a butcher, etc.
The great news is that I've heard from Mick in New Jersey and he's sending a team. And Mig says he's probably going to bring his professional drinker buddies back for another run.
I won't be caught off-guard by Mig and his buddies this time. These guys have seen a few things!
What will AI do to the job market...an intellectual conversation
• Jared P., the economics professor, has been writing this week on the intersection of AI and the human workforce. Today he writes:
Here is my response to Bill H.
The original Cloward-Piven Strategy (see here) was quite limited and was designed to drive support for “direct income distribution” from the federal government and “to wipe out poverty by establishing a guaranteed annual income.” Cloward and Piven felt local and state governments were not providing the necessary funding for welfare programs and believed Democrats could benefit electorally from a more centralized approach. The authors felt this centralization could transform America by elevating the power of the federal government. However, the original authors have denied over the years that their aim was to overthrow capitalism.
What’s interesting is that there is some overlap between federal direct income distribution and a universal basic income. Both guarantee an income floor and seek to alleviate poverty (a negative income tax, as proposed by economist Milton Friedman . However, whereas those on the left would prefer a larger government paired with the guaranteed income floor, those on the right who support an income floor as a replacement of other government programs.
As for how Bill H. described a more modern version of the Cloward-Piven Strategy (“if the legislation does not bring about near-term, intended fundamental change to a government, then the nation should spend its way into oblivious to initiate that desired change of revolutionaries”), I have serious doubts there is a converted effort to implement this. I’ve never heard it discussed in academic circles or at think tanks and Google Scholar doesn’t provide reputable hits from any serious academic sources. I’d chalk it up to conspiracy theory and think Occam’s Razor suggests a simpler explanation: people support more spending because they see the immediate benefits without realizing the long-term costs. Take for instance the different direct payments from the stimulus bills. How many people loved those checks, not realizing that the payments were deficit financed and monetized by the central bank, leading to the inflation we have seen in the last two years?
As to his second question of “how many trillions of dollars in debt can this country accumulate before its ultimate collapse,” I’ll give the same answer I gave a few months back. “ The pithy and yet unsatisfactory answer is that a country with its own fiat currency (a fiat currency is a currency that has no inherent value, nor is it backed by a commodity) can borrow until no one will lend to it. Where that exact level of debt is unfortunately not known.” However, what is certain is that the United States has some serious fiscal headwinds (large current deficits, large planned future deficits, and tens of trillions of dollars in unfunded liabilities). If policymakers do not address this, plan to see higher interest rates and higher inflation down the line.
Kinsey:
BTW, I've had multiple people write to me to say how much they've appreciated Jared's intellectual takes on this AI stuff.
This is the beauty of Screencaps. Those of you who want to read about mowing, get mowing content. Those of you who want to expand your brains get to expand your brains via Jared's dispatches.
That's why this is America's Best Morning Column, as named by the readers.
TNML: Do you wear cleats to mow?
• Kurt A. writes:
Just started reading screencaps this year, and I'm loving it. Wanted to reach out to the TNML community to see if my choice of footwear is more common than I think. Apart from my own lawn, I occasionally mow my parent's lawn. It was my job growing up, and they never actually relieved me of my duties, so I keep doing it. I also enjoy it, so that helps.
They have a pretty brutal hill in their yard that's pretty steep, and not easy to mow unless you know what you're doing. I don't get much traction with my normal mowing footwear (retired basketball shoes) so I throw on my baseball cleats from high school. I don't use them for anything else because the wimps running the slow-pitch softball league banned metal cleats because they think we're in little league or something. But that's for a different day.
The cleats work like a charm. No slipping and I have better control of the mower. Am I alone in this? Does anyone else break out cleats to mow the lawn? Maybe someone needed to see this so they can break out the cleats next Thursday. AKA: game day.
Kinsey:
Short and sweet answer is, yes, TNML members wear cleats.
I'm pretty sure my buddy Nate J. in Louisville wears them out of necessity because he lives above a canyon you could ski down. It's like he lives on the slopes of Vail.
You don't hear much about Ukraine these days
Let's check in with these two sides to see how things are going:
Advice for coaches on how to treat umpires as Opening Day 2023 approaches
• Brent P. writes:
Good Morning Joe! I am sitting on the obligatory conference call, halfway paying attention to it. So I thought I would drop you a note and wish you luck on your coaching debut. You may or may not remember that I am a college and high school umpire, and have chimed in the past, giving clarity on various situations from an umpire’s point of view.
I wanted to remind you that coaching kids (and parents of new players) to play the game also includes coaching them how to treat umpires. This said I thought I would give you some pointers on things that I expect from the college coaches and players. It is never to early to start teaching a few of these items. The odds of having an umpire on Saturday that is at my level are slim to none.
Most probable it is a kid or parent starting out, so be kind especially if it is a kid. Address your parents on this before the game also. The following are pro tips that let me know someone has coached this game before.
I could write a thousand different tips but my conference call just ended. Good luck Saturday! Enjoy the successes of the players, and coach up their failures.
Kinsey:
Our house league uses 14-year-old kids as umpires. It's a win-win for everyone involved. The sport builds up the umpire base, the parents quickly realize this isn't travel ball and after two hours we all go home or to the bar for lunch.
Someone beat me over the head with a woke Bud Light bottle if I'm arguing with a 14-year-old umpire this summer.
Boss/employee relationship
• Brad M. writes:
Prompted by Dave M.’s anecdote about the boss peering into cars…
When arriving on-site as a contractor, service provider or to interview, have a look around the parking lot. What’s the average price, age, condition of the vehicles? Are there reserved spots for the boss(es)? Is the boss’ vehicle an expensive Ferrari or Mercedes while everyone else has a 10 year old Camry or Accord? Or do other people have newer/nice cars as well?
Granted, you can’t assume too much from circumstantial evidence and different industries and segments have different pay scales and workforces. But for white-collar environments an abundance of older cars may indicate an employer who’s tight with a dollar. And a garish boss vehicle may be a sign that he regards himself as royalty and the staff as peasants. The interpersonal dynamics inside the building often bear out the ‘parking lot theory.’
Mrs. Screencaps sent this to me
Let's see how that 'No Mow May' is going for the wokes:
Kinsey:
Just as we've been saying all along: plant stuff the bees can eat all summer. Don't be a degenerate loser with a dandelion forest and zero perennials.
It's great to see others fighting back.
Do you guys use TikTok hacks?
Back in my day, we would call these Slickdeals as a nod to the famous site Slickdeals where I could stack 10 coupons and get TVs, clothing, tools, etc. for like $9.99 after all was said and done -- plus free shipping.
Now we're living in the times when people are building sandwiches out of kids' meals as a Slickdeal. Don't forget to ask the drive-thru girl for a bun to go along with your kids' meal.
My pleasure.
That's it this morning. I have migrating birds going nuts out the back door. The sun is out. There's not a cloud in the sky. My flagstones are being dropped off in like an hour. All is right in the world.
Have a great weekend. Enjoy doing something fun now that your yard is mowed and looking amazing.
Yes, I'll have Saturday Screencaps before heading over to meet my team for Opening Day '23.
Take care.
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com